In the Beginning
by northway1
Summary: Starting as an introspective from Steph's point of view at a crucial moment in time has now developed into the story of what happened. The beginning, the middle and the end.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The characters in this work of fiction belong to Janet Evanovich. I do not own them.

Thankyou for reading

I'm from Australia, so if there's an s instead of a z or an ou instead of an o. I apologize. Oh look, I did it right.

* * *

" Just start at the beginning."

From what beginning? From the beginning where I changed my whole life and finally went from bored, uninspired 'Burg ex-wife to Bounty Hunter? From that beginning? That beginning was easy, easy to describe now. I lost my job and I blackmailed my cousin Vinnie into getting me into the bounty hunting industry. Vinnie woefully underprepared for that role. Connie however his office manager set me up with an extraordinary man of extraordinary talents, Carlos Manoso a.k.a Ranger then Badass Bounty hunter, now co- owner of Rangeman security inc.

Ranger and I, whoa, oh, how to explain in a statement Ranger and I? How to adequately state six years of want. Of mostly unacted upon want? Of stolen moments and nights of unrequited love or something. Stupidity. There you go. That's what I would like to say when they ask. I won't be brave enough but. Yeah. Stupidity

Why stupidity because I'm an idiot, because while I lusted after a human carved from mocha latte colored clay, I was in a relationship with a different my stupidity. Joseph Morelli has been orbiting my sun like a moon since I was a child, for him not to be in my sky would be like an extinction event. That's the fairytale storyline that's been stuffed so far down my throat since I was a kid, that we knocked into each other and held on just because other people were screaming for the happy ending. Problem being we love each other but are not in love with each other and it makes us fight and fuck like a Telenovela. We have an open arrangement that would probably knock his Grandmother into an early grave should she find out, her witch mouth cursing me with Vordo for being a slut as she died.

I look at the sky sometimes and I tell the entity behind the clouds that I am not a slut. I have been given free reign yet I fall occasionally into the bed, wall, car of one man and only when I truly run out of will power. I dare not think of the notches on my Boyfriend's bed post and choose only to make him always wear a condom and never give him a Blowjob.

Worse still is the somewhat friendly relationship the two men are developing between each other. Their arrangements like I'm a child in a shared custody agreement.

My car goes boom or someone hands me a head in a box and those two are grim and looking between each other like, hmmm who gets her and who gets to be the grown up that goes to work?

That needs further explanation right? Like why someone would give me a body part? Because I'm a magnet for sociopaths who don't want to return to prison but who enjoy butchery.

Because cars just...explode when the title gets put under my name. It's not even a surprise now when the blast wave catches me and tosses me into the air, I think I have post concussion syndrome or most definitely some obscure form of post traumatic stress disorder where explosions just don't occur. Like the first flash and my brain is like, no thankyou! Then it resumes normal function when it hears the word Cupcake or Babe. God help me the day I get tossed onto pavement on a day when Joe and Ranger are both out of town.

" Miss Plum? Are you ok?" A cup of deplorable coffee is nudged towards me and I extend a shaking hand to pick it up.

Am I ok?

No.

I just had a 25 car consecutive explosion flashback.

" Can you tell us what happened?" The second voice prompts.

I stare at the man asking the question

" What happened at Rangeman today?"

Today? How about the last three years.

I love him. Ranger, I've loved him for two years and five months. It started when he got shot, it got worse when we tried to capture the Rug. Ranger and I have never had that much time together before, I didn't know that we could co-exist so ...peacefully. Our rhythms match. We meld, jibe, we are the ying to each others yang. I'll stop.

Ranger gets up at four am, four in the morning. It's still dark, it's what I would refer to as the middle of the night but Ranger rises from bed, or in bed. Wink. Which I accomodate and then I would resume sleeping and Ranger would exercise, go for a run on the beach or go to the gym or conquer everest. Whatever he was achieving by the time I woke up he was dressed, relaxed, and there was breakfast, coffee, conversation, jokes, playing around, swimming. We were there eight days and there was maybe sixty minutes of where I felt awkwardness and that was on the first day in the sixty minutes it took for Ranger to get from the airport to the resort to the cabin and me out of my dress and into my bikini bottoms.

I wanted more of that, I craved it. Ranger knew it and pulled back. Pulled? The bastard ran back. A few crappy comments about no chance of a relationship because of his lifestyle. A mission followed by a tour of every Rangeman other than Trenton and I floated back to Joe because I hadn't seen Ranger alone in more than six months.

I should have waited.

I should have shown Ranger I was serious.

I shouldn't have picked Joe.

Joe who gets up at five. Eats breakfast standing up in the kitchen, coffee machine on long enough so he can have a coffee in the house and one to go with him in his Jeep, then he turns the pot off and rinses it out.

Why does he turn the coffee machine off if I'm still sleeping upstairs?

I always wondered that but I never asked. Little questions like that in our relationship quickly evolved to, get out I never want to see you again! Then a month later you'd describe the breakup to a skip or beautician, someone who doesn't have to be on your side and they'd give you one of those sideways eyebrow raises that let you know you'd broken up with your boyfriend because you were a completely unreasonable bitch. Not because there were olives stuck in peanut butter or no bread but because you just needed an excuse to get away from him so the next time you climbed Ranger like a tree you weren't technically having sex with two men at the same time. Maybe that made me a bad person.

" Just say the biggest thing first." The guy with the beard interrupted with this clever suggestion.

I nodded rubbing my head, I could do that. The biggest thing first.

I wasn't in love with Joe but I was too afraid to be alone. Single life was lonely. Maybe people forget that, or didn't know that. There's a horrible echoing silence that comes from an apartment when you're the only person in it and you're not speaking. Like it's so quiet you want the walls to talk. I sit at my dining table overlooking the parking lot, the windows open even in the winter so there's noise, the TV on always so there's some noise. I go to dinner at my Parent's even though I know every night I will be the focus of the same questions, the same accusations where is Joe? Where are your children? Where is your real job? Where is your real life? I sit through the emotional torture just to hear the sound of other humans speaking.

I am lonely and Joe fills the void.

I don't think that's the big reveal these two mean, not sure it's what they are looking for though. I doubt they are sitting here plying me with coffee just so they can watch my introspective.

They've come for more. Should I give it to them?

I didn't mean to do anything wrong. I say that a lot and I can't help but worry that now I will be like the girl that cried wolf but instead of wolf it'll be the words 'it's not my fault'. I should have learnt the laws instead of breaking them and just bellowing my catch phrase at an angry Joe as I made him break his oath to protect and serve.

I won't use those words now then, I won't. They're empty anyway, so much has been lost and so many people are angry at me, at this point I have to accept the responsibility of my actions.

I stilled.

I readied.

Oh god this was so hard. Why can't they just give the words to me and I can agree to them.

I couldn't fall apart because there was so much behind the dam threatning to break through I had to hold it together. If one tear fell, It would be hours before they stopped.

" I killed him." I said and hiccupped a sob but choked it down.

Done

That wasn't so hard.

Maybe it's good that I didn't say all this shit out loud, it kind of makes me look a bit guilty right? Like I was a despicable, desperate woman? Like I killed one to make way for the other?

It's really not the case but I guess it's a bit late now.

" I killed Joseph Morelli. " I clarified.

I closed my eyes.

" Maybe I should start from the beginning?"


	2. Chapter 2

# Disclaimer: I don't make any money off the character's created by Janet Evanovich. I'm also curious to know if she ever reads the fanfics though. Not mine obviously but the big ones? What do you reckon?

So obviously I'm continuing, this is a little slow going because of the one shot going into a story, I didn't have a plot so I'm flying by my pants here.

I also have a neuro condition that makes writing too much in one day hard, so you will have to be patient with me. I work hard to edit, if you find a mistake. Ignore it. ... unless youno its really bad. See what I did there? That was a test.

Chapter 2

" You can't wear that."

I looked down at myself and frowned, then did a little experimental jiggle. My stomach wibbled but didn't wobble. The outfit Ella had sent over was for a distraction at a sex club and the word best used to describe the ensemble I was wearing would be, evocative. It was currently summoning a strong response in Joe and by a means now myself.

" Did you just call me ..?" I started to ask Joe but when I look up I stopped the question because there was a fairly decent dose of lust on his face.

" Cupcake, it's not your stomach I'm referring too." He told me with a wolfish smile and he rolled over the back of the couch in a move that would have made me look like a seal re-entering the water but made him look predatory and he closed in on me, running his hand up the silk over the boning and traced a finger across the front of my bust and lightly flicked a nipple that had popped free of my balconette style bustier, I made an eep noise.

" These, are for my eyes..." he started to say then stopped.

As he said it, it was like he lit up a sign behind his head that said. We will now be having an argument. The topic will be Carlos Manoso a.k.a your lover! Subtopics may include Terry Gillman and the nurse who keeps calling but not leaving a message. No! I decided, I will ignore that sign today.

" Well they should be." He grumbled and stuffed my boob back in its bra cup like he was stuffing a Christmas turkey.

" I have that black and red corset dress from my days as a Lingerie buyer! I'll change!" I told him despite the fact it would make me late and the outfit I wore was lace and silk, the one I was changing into was polyester and satin and I raced for the stairs. It was hard to run in the shoes I had chosen and I kicked them free as I took the stairs.

There were footsteps behind me and I hadn't expected Joe to follow me.

" You're going to change? For me because I don't want anyone to see your tits?" Joe asked surprised.

" If it upsets you then yes!" I hollered taking the corner into the hallway, slipping in my knee high stockinged feet and banging my knee on the wall.

Usually something like that would make me sware, now I was biting it down. Don't cause a fight, don't cause a fight.

We were nearing 8 weeks, 8 weeks of co-inhabition and no major incidents. I wouldn't be the boat rocker. Not tonight.

I skidded on the carpet and dove into the dresser that was mine trying to find the right combination of garter's, panties, corset and stockings to still make the distraction in the sex club and still keep Joe from going postal.

" What if I said I didn't want you to go at all?" Joe asked from the bedroom doorway.

I dropped my clothes I was wearing on the floor, just peeled them off and talked to him naked.

Thirty years of nudity of some form around Joe you better believe I was comfortable being naked around him like it was clothes.

" We sat down and discussed this distraction Joe? Rangeman have got double the team in place, the skip isn't a violent criminal, the club is in Newark so nobody we know will see me." I reminded him.

Joe huffed and I started pulling fancy cheap lingerie on again, my phone tinged.

" Ranger's not there though Steph." Joe said quietly.

Ranger was nowhere, not true he was somewhere I just didn't know where. He was ' In the Wind' on a Mission. Had been for three months, hadn't said goodbye, hadn't stopped over before he left. Just, poof, one morning you stop in at work and his office is locked.

" I don't think I want you to do this without Ranger." Joe stated.

I felt like someone had played the scratch noise on a record player. Hit the pause button. Just shaken me over and over and over.

" What?" I asked shocked.

" Why do you even want to do a distraction if Ranger's not there?" Joe asked.

My phone rang, I ignored it.

" To make my car insurance payment. " I said bluntly.

My phone rang again, dammit I wasn't ready! I wasn't even wwearing panties or even a thong, I needed red panties, couldn't find red panties, why would I own red panties?! Who would?! Oh ... I pulled them on.

I looked up at Joe because he'd gone silent. Joe looked insecure, a new and unwelcome look for him.

Joe's phone rang, he ignored it.

" Come." I suggested pulling on the corset dress thing I was swapping into.

" Really?" Joe asked me disbelief clouding his voice.

" Yeah, of course. You might have to stay in the car but they can wire you for sound."

" We can do that." Tank's voice surprised us both.

" Jesus! " Joe yelped throwing his phone at Tank's head, Tank moved his head slightly and the phone bounced of the wall behind him.

" Sorry, neither of you are answering your cell's and we need Steph or we're going to miss this guy."

" Boundaries! This, this coming in my house, is not ok! Did that break?" Joe said sternly and then asked casually referring to his phone, he grabbed some shoes and stepped out of the room closing the door behind him.

Their voices carried away down the hallway.

I looked in the mirror, my boobs were smaller than when I had aquired this so I stuffed the bottom of the cups with a pair of socks until I got the desired lift and grabbed my pumps. Fluffed my hair, layered on more mascara over my false lashes and painted on more highlighter.

" Ok, I told the mirror. I'm taking Joe on a Rangeman job. What could go wrong? " I asked myself aloud.

Ranger turns up randomly, kisses me softly and takes me right there in front of the Bronco with Joe in the car watching and we have a replay of Hawaii. My brain offered me as a plausible scenario.

I shook my head to clear the lurid image of me bent over the hood of a Bronco and tipped the contents of my bag out onto the bed and grabbed a hairpin tracker and slipped it into my curls and a lipstick tracker and slipped it into a small clutch with a compact mirror and twenty dollars and my phone.

The door opened Tank walked in, looped me over his shoulder and carried me off.

" I can walk." I said indignantly.

" Joe suggested this might be faster." Tank told me.

Joe was in trouble.

Tank dropped me by the back door of a Bronco and I climbed in next to a very amused looking Joe.

" Not a word." I warned.

" I was just going to give you your coat." He offered innocently.

Joe draped the coat around me and kissed my temple before taking my hand in his.

" I feel like I'm being driven to the prom." He said smiling " Except prom's in a sex club, and I don't actually get to go... but you know, still exciting."

The new attitude changed the mood, the vibe is different, everyone is different. I've done distractions before without Ranger they're usually more serious, more security, more trackers, more ... everything.

When we arrived at the venue which was little more than a door in a brick wall allegedly leading into a private club. Ranger's cousin Lester met us with a change of clothes for Joe and the news he would in fact be getting out of the car, very out of the car, so out of the car he was going into the club... with me.

" If you're in Joe, we determined pretty early on but had to discard the idea, that this guy would jump on Steph pretty quickly if you guy go in as a couple, then we can separate him if you Joe, get up to go for drinks. " Lester suggested.

Joe watched Lester carefully and nodded.

" Why'd you vetoe the idea if you think it will work?" Joe asks slipping into serious cop role.

" We wouldn't make Steph makeout with our ugly mugs when there's other alternatives." Lester said offered even though the truth was Ranger would beat to near death any Rangeman employee who got too into the role and as a consequence probably no one would take the job.

Joe looked impressed, relieved by the answer and he slipped around the back of the Bronco to change and there was a lot of laughter from back there.

" Ok, camera." Tank said handing me a tiny clip onto my dress " And microphone." He added unsticking what looked like a sticker from a pad of sticky paper.

" Is that? that's cool." I decided looking at the tiny tan dot in disbelief.

Tank nodded and carefully stuck the tan dot on my neck where it simply looked like a freckle, he put another one behind my ear as a backup.

Joe walked around the Bronco and I felt parts of me go tingly, he was wearing some very tight leather pants and black a mesh vest. Somehow someone had gelled his hair and made him not look like a mobster. I may have sighed a little too loudly.

" Steph, Oh... maybe I'll keep the pants." He grinned.

I laughed and blushed, and slipped my hand into Joe's to try and cover my embarrassment by turning and hiding in his shoulder.

" Ok, so get comfy in this guy's eyeline. Make him notice you. Then when you are sure you have his attention, Joe you go through to the bar and we'll see if he takes the bait. Steph if he approaches you, immediately suggest to go somewhere Joe can't find you. Then we'll intercept." Lester detailed.

" Won't he get suspicious if Steph suggests to leave the club?" Joe questions.

" We're hoping temptation is going to oversea sensability, if he won't leave the club, management have agreed to let us use the very last room at the back of the club on the left. We'll be in there waiting, you won't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with Steph. " Lester confirmed.

Joe looked unconvinced suddenly, so was I, the words, uncomfortable with implied that there was a level I was comfortable with like kissing or touching. I looked at Joe to tell him irrefutably that I did not kiss and touch skips but he was looking at me fondly.

" You just went the cutest shade of pink." He told me and kissed my cheek.

" I don't ..."

" I know Steph." He interrupted smiling giving my hand a squeeze.

I let out a big sigh and grabbed our clasped hands with my free one and leaned into him.

" Alright, Rangeman hot words we need to listen for. 'I'll show you a good time'. Means you're taking Harrison out the front." Lester said seriously " What is it?" He tested me.

" I'll show you a goodtime, front exit." I confirmed.

" Ok, 'lets finds someplace quiet'. Is the club room at the back. All the way down the back hallway last door on the left. Confirm?"

" 'Let's find some place quiet', all the way to the back on the left." I said.

Joe squeezed my hand and gave me a smile.

" Ok, you don't like the vibe he gives you, he tries to touch you, take you into any other room, anything goes different to how we expect, you say ' I want to go back' and we'll abort. "

" I want to go back." I nodded.

I could do this, I was ready to do this.

Lester looked at Joe and handed him a gun in a holster that Joe knelt to lock around his ankle. When Joe stood Lester showed Joe his phone.

" These men are Rangemen, they are in the club as staff. Only order drinks for Steph off these bartenders, they'll give her a virgin drink. No beer, we can't swap out the alcohol in the bottles."

Joe nodded seriously and I felt calm, calmer than if I had gone in my self. Not as calm as going in with Ranger but obviously, Ranger was next level.

There was a last minute sound check as I got my earbud and then Joe and I pulled each other into the club.

I think I expected Joe to be more shocked. Maybe I forgot in those first seconds while my brain was exploding that he had worked vice.

" Easy Cupcake, take a deep breath, let's find the main bar and get a drink." Joe suggested as his hand steered me across the room by my backside.

There were people involved with each other everywhere, just trying to walk without looking was challenging and Joe suddenly stopped and pulled me against the wall and kissed me. Like kissed me, kissed me so hard I was thinking about the code word to abort the mission so I could find a quiet place to make whoopee, kissed me.

" Relax Cupcake." Joe purred into my ear. " It's just you and me, Ranger's guys and the target. Nobody else matters." He whispered as his fingers caressed the insides of my thighs lightly down near my knee, they climbed higher.

Ranger's guys! Oh my god! What am I doing? Nothing else matters? His hand is getting higher and if I look down or tell Joe to stop then there will be a record or a visual that will send Ranger off the deep end because we all know that once Ranger hears that Joe came with me to the sex club he's going to watch the tape.

" A drink is good." I agreed as my brain started spiralling.

Ranger's going to watch the tape. What have I done?

Joe is so happy and relaxed and we're looking good and working together for the first time with the Rangemen team and it's going to make Ranger break a heavy bag from the ceiling of the gym.

The bar hits me in the hips as I walk into it without seeing it and I smack a smile on my face and stomp one heel into the top of my other foot to snap myself out of this fog.

" Steph, still freaked?" Joe asks normally , not concealing the conversation at all.

" It's, uh, very..." I turn to try and get myself together and there are two men sitting next to me kissing and rubbing each other through their pants, one goes to unzip the other.

" Not at the bar." Woody says calmly.

I turn back to Joe, eyes wide as the kissing couple fumble their way to a booth only metres behind us and he's smiling at me just full of mirth, alive, he leans across the bar and taps the counter in front of Woody.

" Jack and Coke and a vodka soda." He asks.

" This is a lot." I say my voice husky.

" You're such a cupcake." Joe smiles leaning across and kissing my nose.

" Vanilla all the way." Is all I can say to that.

" Shame, cause there was a room back there called The Chocolate Fountain, I mean we could abandon this and go find out what that's all about?"

I shuddered and Joe laughed and handed Woody a twenty.

" Come on, lets get a booth and try catch this guy's attention." Joe suggested.

We carried the drinks to a wide plush chaise lounge and took a few healthy sips for show before setting them on a side table. Joe sat then pulled me into his lap and arranged me until I was straddling his thighs, his back to the wall a gap between us that we filled with our hands clasped together.

" I know we're supposed to be putting on a show but let's not put you on show." He said quietly smiled at me settling further nerves. " I'll keep you covered Steph." Joe said his eyes watching the room but his hands rubbing my knees. I smiled at him warmed by his promise.

" I know you'll look after me Joe." I tell him.

Joe seems a little surprised by that and I guess there have been times between us when for his own posturing Joe's done it at my expense. Handcuffing me to a shower, writing derogatory things about me on walls, taking my virginity in a space where literally anyone walking past could have seen.

Maybe I'm surprised as well that I trust him in this situation but I'm not just trusting Joe, I have Ranger and the Rangeman men backing me up . Although the fact that they now have to sit and watch Joe and I playing tickle tonsil instead of the original plan of me flirting alone would make it awkward as hell for every Rangeman who all considered me Ranger's woman is a problem that maybe I've only just considered.

" How do we bait the trap?" I asked looking back to Joe for guidance.

" Well I might stroke your arm, and then you could lean towards me and giggle, and then I can stroke the inside of your thighs and you moan, lots of moaning. We'll make it work." Joe promised me as I followed his guidance.

" Target at the bar." A voice in our ear told us.

I didn't look but I did turn my head so the target Martin Harrison would only be able to see my curls and I held Joe's hand high up on my thigh just outside my bright red panties and threw my head back and pretended that I'd just taken a bite of a Boston Creme donut.

" Oh yeah, like that, just like that." Joe encouraged rubbing the chair between us with an amused quirk of his lips and giving me a wink.

I thought of Ella's chocolate creme brulee and Joe's eye's turned dark and he shifted in his seat to ease the very real discomfort in his leather pants and I lean forward and kiss him and it traps his hand in the fake crotch we've created so I do some squirming and act like I'm grinding down on Joe's hand because I catch Harrison watching in the mirror. Then I catch a look of discomfort in the mirror on Woody's face as he turns away.

Disgust hits me. Woody must think I'm really getting off. It's the first time I've felt guilty toward Ranger. I'm kissing Joe on a Rangeman distraction and I feel like I'm cheating on Ranger. The guilt hits me low in the stomach like a punch. I shouldn't be doing this. I pull back a little or try too.

" Excuse me?" The voice is close and Joe pulls me into him.

" Yeah?" He asks defensive, on guard. Alpha male even though the guy talking is our target.

" Sorry, didn't mean to spook you buddy, was just wondering if you guys ever add a third?" Harrison asks licking his lips.

" No!" I yelp instinctively.

Joe looks at me disappointed and trails a finger down my chest between my breasts and down my stomach, I slap it lightly away.

" Wait Sugar just hear him out, what are you suggesting?" Joe asks Harrison.

Harrison and Joe are talking above me, I'm not to be included, just a piece of meat to be haggled over. I shouldn't be getting mad because this is exactly what I need, this is my job and I am succeeding at it, but maybe because this is too close to mirroring life this is making me mad. Two men and me, again. Get over it Steph! Pay attention or call abort!

" Just to watch." Harrison says as I snap back into the game and he strokes my back, I arch away.

Joe gives me a pleading look, strokes my thigh, going higher and higher. I watch to see if he will keep his word. Joe stops at the edge of my dress. I hear the hitch in Harrison's voice.

" I don't touch." He pleads " I love looking." Harrison walks around to stand with his back to the wall watching me.

Joe is looking at me, touching my knee, he's keeping his word despite the increasingly hungry eyes of Harrison who has moved deliberately to see more and Joe's hand is teasing Harrison now as traces the lace edge of the panties high on my thigh underneath the edge of my dress allowing me to cover my crotch discreetly with my hands.

" I'm dying here." Harrison groans " Show me a prievew?" He begs Joe.

" I need to wait for an answer." Joe tells Harrison.

I don't want to do this anymore, I want to pull the plug. I want to but there's no reason other then my skin crawling everytime Joe touches me now, because of Harrison, because of Harrison looking.

" Not here." I say my voice sounds scared and Joe is looking at me like he approves of my acting skills. It's not acting. " Somewhere quiet." I suggest getting up.

" Confirmed Someplace quiet." Echoes in my ear as Lester lets me know that Tank and Bobby will be waiting for us with their team.

I appreciate that Joe is there as we move through the club, people are drunk and some are handsy. Joe is acting possessive and holds me close, steering me down the back and he checks that Harrison is following a couple of times.

I get to the end of the hallway breaking away from Joe and my hand is on the doorway of the room on the left and Harrison opens the room one door before us.

" In here, yeah?" He gives us a smile like a helpful kid.

Joe is standing in the middle of the two rooms and he laughs like the decision is funny and saunters up to me putting his hands on my hips and coaxing me to kiss him, I do and one of Joe's hands lifts the skirt up at the side of my body giving Harrison a little show of my panties.

I want to tell him to stop, but we're nearly done, this is nearly over. It's all nearly over but this is too far and I warn Joe with a look.

" Open" Joe whispers softly in my ear as he kisses my neck.

I turn the door handle and swing the door open, I can't see anybody in the room and that means neither can Harrison.

Joe's hand is creeping inside my red panties and he pushes me to take a step forward into the room, where what we're doing is now blocked from the hallway but suddenly on display to Tank and Bobby who are waiting guns drawn. Joe's hand isn't doing anything it's just underneath the cloth of my underwear resting on my hip but from the angry look on Bobby's face it's not ok to him that I'm on display of his bodycam.

" There's an Andrews Cross in this one though." Harrison complains from the hallway.

" I thought you just wanted to watch?" Joe asks looking to Tank for guidance.

" Yeah, but you with her on the cross... maybe a little flogging?" Harrison suggests and he's got the door open to the second room.

Tank and Bobby are whispering to each other and Joe is looking at me, is hand back on the outside of my hip.

" We can cover you." Tank whispers, his voice coming through our ears. " Choice is yours."

Joe looks down at me and I just want this to be done without more eyes on me so I can go home, shower and eat icecream, I push Joe put into the hallway.

" We'll go in your room." I tell Harrison with as much of a nervous smile I can act out. It's not much of an act, I'm strangely terrified. My heart is racing in my chest like a horse racing in the Kentucky Derby.

Harrison follows me into the room which was dominated by a big padded X surrounded by struts with chains hanging down its a terrifying structure and I jump back and crashed into Harrison, something stung my arm and I shake it.

" Hey watch it. " I warn moodily.

" Sorry, but you kind of crashed into me." Harrison points out and gives me the world's creepiest smile.

The type of smile you see on a man on the bus and you just get off at the next stop because that stop is well lit and in a public place and your stop is dark. It's the smile of the kid in the classroom sticking other kids with pins and getting away with it. It's the smile of a man who is doing evil acts and it turns my stomach and sends my spidey senses haywire.

The room spins suddenly and I blink in surprise.

" Oh backh, I wanhna gso, backs." I say slurring each word as everything slides out.

Joe gives me a nod and steps towards me, Harrison frowns.

" We're not doing this?" He asks frowning angrily.

" I wannna gobsack!" I call out again and I hear Tank acknowledging loudly.

" Go! Go! Go! Steph we're coming!"

" Steph?!" Joe cries out as I feel the vertical go horizontal as my knees just go.

" She have too much to drink?" Harrison asks.

I hear Tank enter the room but I can't see him, I can't see anything and I feel Joe grabbing me and I open my eyes in his arms.

" Steph?" Joe asks frowning at me he leans forward to look at Tank.

" Woody? He's one of yours?" He asks grabbing Tank's forearm.

" Yes." Tank answers turning to look at me too. " What's going on?"

" Steph's been drugged." Joe told him concerned " She had two, three sips of the club soda, Harrison did something to her!"

" What did you give her?!" Joe yells

I didn't know why he was mad, I felt wonderful, wonderly wonderificous, oh and Sleepy, really very sleepy.

" Steph?!" Joe calls again agitated.

There's time passing, I'm watching Lester and Vince drag Harrison out but not hearing them and I'm looking at Joe's face as he watches Bobby take my pulse and then it seems second later get violently assaulted by something that goes up my nostril.

" Dammit! Narcan didn't have any effect! Where's the Bus?!" Bobby yells.

I wonder when Ranger is going to get here? Usually when I fuck it up this badly I can count on a calming hand on my arm and a cool look.

" Steph?!"

If people could stop yelling and rubbing hard knuckles into my chest that would be awesome! I just want to sleep, sleep and see Ranger, or see Ranger and sleep. Definitely do something with Ranger. I can't ignore the overwhelming amount of love I have towards Ranger anymore.

There's more yelling, I feel like being pounded through the floor and then I don't feel anything at all.

So yeah that was the beginning and Ranger wasn't even there. But I know you will still be asking, but how did Morelli die? You didn't say! I didn't do it on purpose, It wasn't premeditated and he didn't deserve it. But you knew that already right? He was a good man, just because I fell out of love with him didn't make him a monster.

But that's not the beginning. That, that on the clean red vinyl floor of the sex club where I started to die. That's what I promised to tell you, that was the beginning.


End file.
